The Qi Invitational tournament is operated as part of the Qi League by Qi Entertainment. This is the only rulebook which is valid for the Qi League, it's participants and all matches played within the scope of the Qi League. With his participation the participant states that he understands and accepts all rules.

1.2 Participants

A Qi Invitational participant is a team or a player that is participating in an Qi League competition. No participant can at the same time be part of more than one organization taking part in a Qi League tournament or any of those tournaments' qualifiers.

2. General

2.1 Rule Changes

The Tournament Direction reserves the right to amend, remove, or otherwise change the rules, without further notice. The Tournament Direction also reserves the right to make judgment on cases that are not specifically supported, or detailed in this rulebook, or even goes against this rulebook may be taken in extreme cases, to preserve fair play and sportsmanship.

2.2 Validity of the Rules

If any provision of the rulebook shall be invalid or impracticable in whole or in part this shall not affect the validity of the remaining part of this rulebook. In lieu of the invalid or impracticable provision an appropriate provision shall apply which is nearest to the intent of to what would have been the intention in keeping with the meaning and purpose of the rulebook.

2.3 Confidentiality

The content of protests, support tickets, discussions or any other correspondence with tournament officials and administrators are deemed strictly confidential. The publication of such material is prohibited without a written consent from the Qi Invitational tournament directors.

2.4 Code of Conduct

2.5 Match Broadcasting

2.5.1 Rights

All broadcasting rights of Qi League are owned by Qi Entertainment. This includes but is not limited to: IRC bots, shoutcast streams, video streams, GoTV, replays, demos or TV broadcasts.

2.5.2 Waiving These Rights

Qi Entertainment has the right to award broadcasting rights for one or multiple matches to a third party or the participants themselves. In such cases the broadcasts must have been arranged with the tournament direction before the start of the match.

2.6 Conditions of Participation in the Qi Invitational

2.6.1 Regional Limitations for Participants

Any individual player may not participate in or try to qualify for the event from more than one country or region (this is including claiming an invite).

2.6.2 Publisher's anti-cheat system

Any player who has been caught cheating by the game publisher's anti-cheat system (Valve Anti-Cheat) in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is not eligible to participate in this tournament or any of its qualifiers.

2.6.3 Publisher's banned players

Any player who has been banned by the game publisher to take part in any official tournaments is not eligible to participate in this tournament or any of its qualifiers.

2.7 Player changes and team lineups

2.7.1 Player changes pre-qualifiers and offline qualifier

Teams can change their lineup until the start of a qualifier, deadline to add new players is the official starting time of the tournament itself. After that deadline it's not possible to add new players. If a team for any reason does not have the sufficient number of players to participate in a match, the team will receive a default loss.

2.7.2 Pre-qualifier/offline finals restriction for invited teams

Any player which is part of an invited team to the main event itself is not allowed to take part in any other matches of the tournament or qualifiers unless the team change is permanent.

2.8 Replacements

2.8.1 Replacement Deadline

Replacements will only be entered into Qi League tournaments until a reasonable time before the beginning of that stage. If by then no replacement could be found, the stage may start with one less participant instead.

2.9 Match Start

2.9.1 Punctuality

All matches in the Qi Invitational should start as agreed with all participating parties, any changes in the time must be accepted by the opposing party and administrators, even if rescheduling is generally possible. All participants in a match should be on the server and ready to go at the latest 10 minutes before the match is to start.

2.9.2 Delaying the Match

For any delay up to 15 minutes after the scheduled start of the match teams may be penalized as the administration sees fit. At that point, the team will be considered as no show and the match will have to be rescheduled, if the schedule allows it. Otherwise, the opponent will receive a default win from the administration.

2.10 Match Procedures

2.10.1 Match Result

The result must be immediately added and confirmed by both parties, even if more match records are missing and in need of uploads. A protest may still be made even after a match result has been confirmed and accepted by a Qi League admin. Please refer to the game specific rules for what match records and media that needs to be uploaded.

2.11 Match Protests

2.11.1 Definition

A protest is for problems that affect the match outcome; a protest may even be filed during a match for things like incorrect server settings and other related issues. A protest is the official communication between the parties and an admin.

2.11.2 Match Protest Rules

Deadline for Match Protests
The latest time that participants are allowed to issue a match protest is the earliest of the three following:
• 72 hours after the scheduled starting time of the match
• The beginning of the next match for either of the two participants (a minimum of 10 minutes has to be kept between two matches by all participants)
• Only at offline events: The end of the event day (departure of the admins)
Contents of a Match Protest
The protest must contain detailed info about why the protest was filed, how the discrepancy came to be and when the discrepancy occurred. A protest may be declined if proper documentation is not presented. A simple „they are cheaters“ will not do.
Behavior in Match Protests
Insults and flaming are strictly prohibited in a protest, and may result in the protest being ruled against the insulting party.

2.12 Results in Rematch

If the rules stipulate that a rematch is to be played, the victim of the incident is to decide whether or not this rematch is actually to be played. If the victim of the offence decides that a rematch is to be played, then the old result is null and void, and only the new result will count in the rankings.

3. Event Rules

3.1 Punctuality

We expect every player to be at the as stated in the tournament directions info mails to setup, prepare and solve any technical problems that might occur. If you notice at any point you will be late on one of the days, please inform a tournament official as soon as possible! Any delays caused by showing up late may lead to penalties depending on the time waited.

3.2 Equipment

ESL just provides monitors and computers for all matches as well has headsets for stage matches. Participants have to bring their own equipment (in particular: Keyboard, Mouse, Mousepad, Headsets, In-Ear headphones with long enough cables,(PS2->USB adapters if needed). Our machines do not support PS2- keyboards!

3.3 Configs and drivers

All participants have to send in their configs and drivers until a specific deadline set by the tournament direction before the event. If any player or team doesn’t send in their configs and drivers they have to manually setup their config on site and play without drivers.

3.4 Gaming Areas

If nothing else has been announced, it is forbidden to bring or eat any food in the gaming areas. Smoking is also strictly prohibited. Exaggerated loud noises and offensive language is forbidden and may be punished with penalty points.

3.5 Clothing

The players and teams need to ensure that they are all in equal colored clan attire, failure for a player or a team to bring such attire, will result in Qi Entertainment to provide suitable clothing for the participants. The cost of this clothing will then be subtracted from the prize money paid out to the participants.

3.6 Interview

Each team must have nominated one participant to be available for pre- and post-match interviews. All solo players must also be available for pre- and post-match interviews.

3.7 Mobile phones, tablets or similar devices

Participants are not allowed to bring mobile phones, tablets or similar devices into the gaming area and they have to be handed to tournament officials before starting to setup before the first match. Tournament officials will keep such devices until the player or team has played all of its matches on that day.

3.8 Internet access

Internet access on tournament computers is disabled for all participants.

3.9 Warm-up Period

A warm-up period of 30 minutes is normally provided before a Qi League match, although this period may not be guaranteed.

3.10 Photo and Other Media Rights

By participating, all players and other team members grant Qi Entertainment the right to use any photographic, audio or video material on their website or for any other promotional purpose.

In case of Best-of-One matches, both teams remove maps alternatively until one map is left which will be played. The team with the lower seeding has to start to remove the first map. A kniferound will be played to decide starting sides.

4.1.2.2 Best-of-Three Matches

4.1.3 Nickname Ingame

Each player has to use the same nickname during official matches. It’s not allowed to add any funny additions or characters unless sponsor names.

4.1.4 Number of Players

All matches have to be played with five players per team (5vs5), other constellations are not allowed. If a team fails to show up with enough players, the match will count as no-show and will be forfeited.

4.1.5 Dropping of Players

If a player drops before the first kill in the first round of a half, then the half will be restarted. If a player drops after the first kill have been made and has not returned when the round has been decided, then the match will be paused at the end of the round/start of the next round. If the player has not returned or cannot be replaced within 10 minutes after the pause has started, then the team with the dropped player may forfeit the match at admins discretion.

4.1.6 Continuing a Disrupted Game

If a match is interrupted (e.g. server crash) within the first three rounds of play, then the match should be restarted, if the match is interrupted after the first three rounds of play then the match should be continued where it left off, with these changes in the configuration.
• mp_startmoney should be set to 5000 for the rest of the half
• The rest of the rounds that have not been played should be played.
However, if the match will be played on an official ESL server the admin can decide to continue the match by using the backup files provided by the game instead of using the above-mentioned way.

4.1.7 Overtime

In case of a draw after all 30 rounds have been played, an overtime will be played with mp_maxrounds 6 and mp_startmoney 10000. For the start of the overtime teams will stay on the side which they played the previous half on, during half-time sites will be swapped. Teams will continue to play overtimes until a winner has been found.

4.1.8 Usage of pause function

If a player has a problem that prevents him from playing on, he is allowed to use the pause function. The pause function has to be used at the beginning of the next round (during the freeze time). The player has to announce the reason before or immediately after he paused the match. If no reason is given, the opponent may unpause the game and continue playing. Unpausing or pausing the game without any reason will lead to penalty points.

5 Setting

5.1 Player Settings

5.1.1 Configuration / Startparameters

The following commands are forbidden:
• mat_hdr_enabled
The following startparameters are forbidden:
• +mat_hdr_enabled 0/1
• +mat_hdr_leven 0/1/2
All other configuration changes are allowed as long as they do not give an unfair edge or advantage comparable to cheating. A player may be penalized for wrong settings in any config file, regardless if it is in use, or even stored in the game folder in question.
If three or more players have wrong settings the team will get a default loss.
Admins may under special circumstances decide on a default loss, even if less than three players have wrong settings.

5.1.2 Forbidden Scripts

The use of all scripts is forbidden. However there is an exception for the following scripts:
• Buy-Scripts
• Demo-Scripts
• Say-Scripts
• Nickname-Scripts
If you are not sure if a script is allowed or not, then contact the admin team before you play an official match. A player may be penalized for forbidden scripts in any config file, regardless if it is in use, or even stored in the game folder in question.
If three or more players have wrong settings the team will get a default loss.
Admins may under special circumstances decide on a default loss, even if less than three players have forbidden scripts.

5.1.3 Graphics drivers, or similar tools

Any modification or changing of the game using external graphics solutions or other 3rd party programs are strictly prohibited and may be punished under the cheating paragraph.
Furthermore, it's forbidden to use all kinds of overlays which will show the usage rate of the system in any way in-game (e.g. Nvidia SLI display, Rivatuner Overlay). Overlays which will show only the frames per second (FPS) are not forbidden and can be used.

5.1.4 Color depth

Every player must play with the highest color setting in Counter-Strike (32 bit); if the player is playing in windowed mode then the desktop must also be on 32bit setting.

5.1.5 Custom Data

Only steam skins are allowed to be changed, any other changes to sprites, skins, score boards, crosshairs are strictly disallowed, also only the official models are allowed.

5.2 Server

5.2.1 Server Settings

All servers that are to be used for an ESL One match must have the official settings loaded as well as the mappool installed.
Additional to that the server must have the following settings:
• ESL Settings
• VAC enabled
• sv_pure 1
The team providing the server is responsible for making sure that the server has all the necessary components required. However, with the start of the match both teams agree on the settings as well as the map version. If possible wrong settings have to be changed after the start of the match if there is no big disadvantage for one of the teams.

5.2.2 Server Settings

No extra plug-ins are allowed to be installed on the server, especially gameplay mods such as metamod are not allowed.

5.3 Use of Bugs and Glitches

The intentional use of any bugs, glitches, or errors in the game are penalized with six (6) minor penalty points per incident, up to a maximum of eighteen (18) minor penalty points per match. Furthermore, it is up to the admins discretion whether or not the use of said bugs had an effect on the match, and whether or not he will award rounds, or the match to the opposing team, or to force a rematch. In extreme cases, the penalty for abusing bugs may be even higher.
The usage of the following bugs is strictly forbidden, if any bug is used which is not listed here it is up to the admins discretion whether or not a punishment is necessary.
Warm-up – map check:
Bugs on load have to be checked before the match starts (missing boxes, ladders and so on). Failure to do so, and to let the match start, will mean that both teams have accepted the state the map is in, and the match will be continued under these settings. Protests and complaints regarding such issues will not be adhered to.
During the match:
• Moving through any walls, or ceilings, are strictly forbidden, also moving through the floor, or anywhere else which were not intended to be a passage is strictly forbidden.
• „silent planting“ is strictly forbidden (planting the bomb in such a way that no one can hear the beeping)
• To plant the bomb where it is impossible to reach is disallowed. Planting the bomb in a place that you can reach with a boost from a teammate is not part of this rule.
• Standing on top of teammates is generally allowed, it is only forbidden, when such actions allow the player to peek over a wall, or ceiling that should not be allowed according to map design. 22
• Using flash bugs are strictly forbidden.
• Throwing grenades under walls are forbidden, although throwing grenades and flashes over walls are allowed.
• „map swimming“ or „floating“ is forbidden
• „Pixel walking“ is forbidden (Sitting or standing on invisible edges on the map). General: Generally, the use of any bugs in the game is strictly forbidden. (For example: spawn bugs). An exception are the following bugs which are explicitly allowed:
• Defusing the bomb through walls and items etc.
• So called “surfing” on tubes
• So called “fireboost”
The tournament directions reserve the right, also retroactively, to add more bugs to the list.

5.3.1 New Positions

If any player or team wants to use a new position which is unknown to anyone else or just known to a small part of the community, it’s strongly recommended to contact tournament officials to check if that position is allowed before using it in any official match. Players and teams have to consider that it takes time to check new positions and therefore they have to contact tournament officials in a reasonable timeframe before an official match.

5.3.2 Mandatory Demo Recording

All players must record point of view demos of the entire match.
Requesting Demos Demos can be requested within 24 hours after the scheduled match time via protest on the ESL website. Other ways of requesting demos are not valid. After requesting a demo, the player in question has time until 48 hours after the scheduled match time to upload his demos.

5.3.3 Cheat Accusations

If a team wishes to accuse a player or players of another team of cheating in an ESL One match than a timetable based on the POV demo for each half for each player must be submitted in a protest within 72 hours of the demo being uploaded to the ESL match page.
Each timetable must contain:
1. Download link and name of demo
2. Player name and type of suspected cheat/hack (wallhack, aimbot...)
3. Specific times in the demo which look suspicious, along with a reason for each (I.e. why it cannot have been coincidence, luck, hearing or skill)